And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” (Luke 4:4)

We can no more live without God’s word than we can without food, although we don’t always act like we really believe that. The quotes and Scripture passages below are just a few simple thoughts I hope you may find helpful in that respect.

At times it’s good to read all the way through the Bible, trying to grasp the big picture.

For some years now I have read through the Bible twice every year. If you picture the Bible to be a mighty tree and every word a little branch, I have shaken every one of these branches because I wanted to know what it was and what it meant. —Martin Luther

It’s also good at times to concentrate on smaller portions of Scripture.

Some people like to read so many chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up in your very soul, till it saturates your heart! —Charles Haddon Spurgeon

In both cases, God’s Word should make us think hard.

If you believe the scriptures, you cannot be indifferent or merely suspicious of the life of the mind. God commands us to think, and to think with maturity, and to think with energy, and to think for the sake of holiness and for Christ. The first and great commandment is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). — John Piper

And in both cases, God’s Word should pierce our hearts; as it ultimately will, if not now, then certainly on the day of judgment, when we stand before God naked and exposed.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)

So it would seem that Kierkegaard is exactly right.

When you read God’s Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, “It is talking to me, and about me.” —Soren Kierkegaard

This is a great post, and a good reminder. I sometimes find myself reading blogs about the Bible more than the Bible itself. How dry I get with only theology, controversy and commentary bouncing around in my head. The Word itself brings it all back into balance and makes everything sweet again. Or, it brings sorrow upon blessed sorrow to my stony heart and I find the blessedness of mourning once more. Either way, it’s good and needed.